We have been here before; the Pedestal Rocks Kings Bluff Special
Interest Area (PRKB) is no doubt special and interesting. Paved roads all the way here probably adds to
the popularity, and today is Friday but we’re hoping it’s not too crowded.
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below the bluff
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Our first couple visits here we didn’t even
know about all the ‘off trail’ wonders awaiting the hiker willing to do a
little bushwhacking. Today our plan is
to hike to an area below Kings Bluff Trail known as Seven Shelters. At the parking area we count four or five vehicles, since this is a big place that shouldn’t be a problem.
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multi-color cave walls
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From the trailhead we take
the Kings Bluff Loop Trail. Soon we
arrive at an intersection and turn left onto a less used trail. This isn’t an official trail but actually a
maintenance road used by the Forest Service.
It doesn’t appear they use it very often though as it looks more like a
trail to me. We gradually head down the
‘road’ until it ends at the actual Kings Bluff Trail.
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at the entrance
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A left turn here and back to the south only
about 100 feet where we turn right (west) onto a faint volunteer trail. This ‘trail’
isn’t too hard to find and pretty easy to follow. After it passes South Kings Bluff Falls (dry
today) we miss our turn-off for the Seven Shelters thanks to thick lush ground cover and continue downhill instead.
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small upper cave
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This is the way down to the base of Kings
Bluff Falls, which isn’t on our itinerary (since it's dry). We soon realize we've gone too far and turn
around and head back up the hill toward the bluff and shelters. At this point we’re wading through some
pretty thick jungle trying to get up to the bluffline. |
Shelter 4 (Fern Cave)
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Once up at the base of the bluffs the route is a little easier to
navigate with very little undergrowth to contend with but lots of large
boulders and broken rock debris. The
first cave we find isn’t much really, a little ‘bear cave’ that isn’t
one of the Seven Shelters. But it
marks the beginning of the real cool stuff, and more importantly to me, it
confirms we are back on track. |
inside Shelter 6 (Lake Cave)
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Shelter 1 comes along pretty soon, 100 yards or so. Then on to Shelters 2, 3, and 4, all more or
less 100 yards apart. All four of these
are good sized (not huge) with plenty of room to roam inside, 25-50 feet deep. Shelter 2 is called Railing Cave since you
can see the split-rail safety barrier railing high above along the Kings Bluff Trail.
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blue boulder
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Shelter 4 or Fern Shelter for all the ferns around the entrance, is also called Tall Cave for its tall
entrance. Maybe 150 yards
farther brings us to Shelter 5, this one involves a little climbing to get into
and it’s not very big, and narrow.
Then in less than a hundred yards is Shelter 6 known as Lake Cave. I believe because of standing water inside the
cave during wetter times, but it’s dry today. |
Kings Bluff
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From Six to Seven is the longest distance between any two of the
shelters, 200 yards or more. Along the
way is the imposing Kings Bluff, if you're into bluffs (and who isn’t?) then this
is the best part of the entire hike.
This south facing bluffline stays pretty dry and we notice lots of
prickly pear cactus along the trail.
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cave #3
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We
soon arrive at Shelter 7, which apparently doesn’t have a name. This one needs
a name as it is the biggest and deepest of the bunch. I think what impresses me the most about all
these shelters is the coloring inside.
From blues to green and yellow, orange, browns and gray these caves are
beautiful. The grain of the stone
and texture are also gorgeous. Well,
obviously Shelter 7 is the last of the Seven Shelters, but we're not done yet. |
Cave 7
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Before heading uphill to the Kings Bluff Trail and back to the
trailhead we have one more place to check out.
Downhill and around a little corner we get pretty close to ‘creek level’
and a small shelter known as Moonshine Grotto.
This is the site of one of those illegal stills that were once all over
the Ozarks.
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ragged entrance
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There’s not much left however, a few metal scraps, barrel rings and what appears to be the stone base
of the still furnace. This little
grotto, being so close to the creek is quite lush, not at all like the shelters
along the dry bluffline above. We
retrace our path back towards a bluffline break just east of Shelter
Seven. It’s uphill all the way but a fairly gentle slope from
here to the Kings Bluff Trail which soon intersects with the main trail, where we turn north (left) and
soon arrive back at the parking area. |
Shelter 2 (Railing Cave)
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Because of the little ‘boondoggle’ we went through to get up to the base of the
bluffs, Kat refers to this hike as ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’. But that’s not really fair, this was a very
enjoyable hike in one of the best places the Ozark National Forest has to offer, and I know we’ll be back.
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some fall color
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Even including
the boondoggle, today's hike was just over 2 miles and from top to bottom at the base of the bluffline is around 250
feet. Since most of the hike today was ‘off trail’ we didn’t see anybody
after leaving the loop trail, and that’s just how I like it. For more adventures at PRKB including a map, see: (35 Wonders Downunder). |
back at the trailhead
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Pedestal Rocks Kings Bluff SIA: Statistics Chart 29 On paved roads all the way, it couldn't be easier to get here. From the intersection of Highways 7 and 16 in Pelsor (Sand Gap) head east on Highway 16 for about 6 miles to the entrance on the right, (with a sign) for Pedestal Rocks Kings Bluff.
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